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Goddess of Mercy
rating:2.8

Goddess of Mercy

2004Runtime:0 minutes
Director Ann Hui's film, which opened the 2004 Hong Kong International Film Festival, follows the travails of An Xin (Vicki Zhao), a woman whose work life may be under control, but whose love life is in a shambles. And no wonder: She's juggling two men -- a drug kingpin she meets through work (Nicholas Tse) and her reformed playboy fiancée (Liu Yunlong). Plus, An Xin still hasn't gotten over the death of her husband, Tienjun (Chen Jiabin).

Directed by:

  • Ann Hui
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    The Ranch
    rating:2.8

    The Ranch

    2004Runtime:0 minutes
    Amy Madigan heads the cast as Mary Larkin, the no-nonsense madam who runs Diamond Ranch -- a cathouse on the outskirts of Reno, Nev., that caters to the carnal needs of any client who can pay the going rate. As the bordello's sexy ladies ply their trade, Mary keeps a watchful eye on her charges, including a struggling single mother (Jessica Collins) and an ex-actress whose Hollywood dreams evaporated (Nicki Micheaux).

    Directed by:

  • Susan Seidelman
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    A Real Life
    rating:2.8

    A Real Life

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    When petty thief Bruno (Guillaume Depardieu) falls in love with Isabelle (Florence Loiret), a teacher, they believe they can build a life together despite his criminal past. That is, until the authorities begin to close in and the two are forced on the lam in the wilderness. Drifting down the river and wandering through the woods, they become lost in each other, blithely ignoring the future. This romance was Depardieu's final film.

    Directed by:

  • Sarah Leonor
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    Celebrating the Art of the Short Film
    rating:2.8

    Celebrating the Art of the Short Film

    2005Runtime:0 minutes
    The independent and foreign-film buffs at Film Movement round up six original short features in this unique cinematic collection, celebrating the art of the abbreviated celluloid form. Selections include "Inja" (Steven Pasvolsky and Joe Weatherstone), "Das Rad" (Chris Stenner and Heidi Wittlinger) and "Mt. Head" (Koji Yamamura), which all received Academy Award nominations, and the Sundance selection "Sangam" (Prashant Bhargava).

    Directed by:

  • Joe Weatherstone
  • Steven Pasvolsky
  • Chris Stenner
  • Heidi Wittlinger
  • Koji Yamamura
  • Prashant Bhargava
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    In Your Hands
    rating:2.8

    In Your Hands

    2004Runtime:0 minutes
    After trying for years to have a baby, newly anointed priest Anna (Ann Eleonora Jorgensen) and her husband face the dispiriting possibility of infertility. But when Anna takes a post as a chaplain in a women's prison, she meets Kate (Trine Dyrholm), an inmate said to possess healing powers. Soon, Anna finds that, miraculously, she's pregnant. But Kate harbors a secret that could have fateful consequences for both women.

    Directed by:

  • Annette K. Olesen
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    Home
    rating:2.8

    Home

    2008Runtime:0 minutes
    Poet Inga (Marcia Gay Harden) wants to buy and restore an old house that reminds her of her childhood. The situation -- along with her suffering marriage, her beloved daughter (Eulala Scheel), a dark family history and a surprise diagnosis -- provides Inga with plenty of material. Wrestling with her issues through her poetry -- which she inevitably discards -- Inga inches closer to a realization that will change her forever in this stirring drama.

    Directed by:

  • Mary Haverstick
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    The Pack
    rating:2.8

    The Pack

    2009Runtime:0 minutes
    Lucie Arnaz stars in this modern social drama, based on actual events and court cases, about the responsibility smokers bear for the health risks they may inflict on other people, intentionally or not. The district attorney (Carlos Leon) elects to prosecute widow Eleanor Jordan for murder because her husband died of lung cancer after breathing her secondhand smoke for 30 years -- a case brought to his attention by the couple's son (Ryan Homchick).

    Directed by:

  • Alyssa Rallo Bennett
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    Rain
    rating:2.8

    Rain

    2001Runtime:0 minutes
    It's certainly no summer of love when 13-year-old Janey (Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki) must cope with her own burgeoning emotional needs and budding sexuality at the same time her parents dissolve their marriage during a vacation stay at a lakeside cottage. Sparse dialogue and an absence of melodrama inform this penetrating character study of a young woman coming of age.

    Directed by:

  • Christine Jeffs
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    Punish Me
    rating:2.8

    Punish Me

    2005Runtime:0 minutes
    Elsa Seifert (Maren Kroymann), a middle-aged probation officer, finds her professional and personal lives blurring (with potentially disastrous consequences) when 16-year-old delinquent Jan Winkler (Kostja Ullmann) is placed under her supervision. As the restless young man insinuates himself into Elsa's empty-nest household, he also offers to sexually subjugate himself to her. Wary but enticed, Elsa takes their relationship to the next level.

    Directed by:

  • Angelina Maccarone
  • rating:2.8 2.8 Average Rating

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    To Die for Tano
    rating:2.7

    To Die for Tano

    1997Runtime:0 minutes
    A hit in Italy, this genre-bending musical drama satirizes the true story of Tano Guarrasi (Ciccio Guarino), a slain Italian mafioso notorious for his volatile temper and peculiar determination to prevent his four sisters from marrying. As mourners gather for a wake, they offer a mélange of rap songs, dance numbers and comedy bits that suggest Guarrasi's oppressive hand might even reach out from the grave.

    Directed by:

  • Roberta Torre
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    In the Shadows
    rating:2.7

    In the Shadows

    1999Runtime:0 minutes
    Cash-strapped waitress Cynthia (Molly Parker) takes a job caring for moneyed cancer patient Eleanor Dunston (Joely Richardson). When she shows an interest in Cynthia's boyfriend, Buck (Aden Young), Cynthia persuades him to pose as her half brother so he can seduce the dying woman into leaving him her fortune. Writer-director Meg Richman transplants Henry James' classic novel The Wings of the Dove to Seattle's 1990s grunge scene.

    Directed by:

  • Meg Richman
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    The Winter's Tale
    rating:2.7

    The Winter's Tale

    1981Runtime:0 minutes
    Robert Stephens, Jeremy Kemp and Anna Calder-Marshall star in this BBC production of Shakespeare's romance about Sicilian King Leontes, who wrongfully accuses his wife of adultery. Sixteen years later, Leontes gets a second chance at happiness when he meets Perdita, a shepherd girl of mysterious lineage. Part drama, part comedy, this romantic tale ends with a little magic and a very real engagement. Debbie Farrington also stars.

    Directed by:

  • Jane Howell
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    Angela
    rating:2.7

    Angela

    1995Runtime:0 minutes
    In an effort to cope with her difficult family life, 10-year-old Angela withdraws into an imaginary world in which she tries to purge herself and her 6-year-old sister of evil, hoping that it will cure their mentally ill mother.

    Directed by:

  • Rebecca Miller
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    The Alice
    rating:2.7

    The Alice

    2004Runtime:0 minutes
    In this engrossing made-for-TV drama, adventure, mystery and romance collide as Aussies from across the land Down Under -- drawn by inexplicable forces -- converge on the outback town of Alice Springs to observe a total solar eclipse. When they cross paths, the lives of washed-up rock star Jack Jaffers (Erik Thomson), jittery nurse Helen Gregory (Caitlin McDougall) and botanist Matt Marione (Patrick Brammall) will never be the same.

    Directed by:

  • Kate Dennis
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    Old Joy
    rating:2.7

    Old Joy

    2006Runtime:0 minutes
    When old friends Mark (Daniel London) and Kurt (Will Oldham) embark on a weekend camping trip in the Oregon Cascades, they find themselves exploring much more than nature in this meditation on friendship, memory and generational malaise. As the men journey deeper into the wilderness -- first losing, and then finding, their way -- they struggle to find common ground in the divergent paths they've chosen.

    Directed by:

  • Kelly Reichardt
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    Farewell China
    rating:2.7

    Farewell China

    1990Runtime:0 minutes
    Hong Kong acting legends Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Maggie Cheung star as a Chinese couple separated by the painful, arduous and risky process of illegal immigration to America. A year after his wife leaves for New York City, Leung Ka-Fai follows, but discovers his wife's been lost in the crush of poverty, hardship and urban decay. Gritty and unsentimental, Farewell China was nominated for Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

    Directed by:

  • Clara Law
  • rating:2.7 2.7 Average Rating

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    Now and Then
    rating:3.8

    Now and Then

    1995Runtime:0 minutes
    Waxing nostalgic about the bittersweet passage from childhood to puberty in this tender coming-of-age tale, four childhood girlfriends -- Teeny, Chrissy, Samantha and Roberta -- recall the magical summer of 1970. During their walk down memory lane, they reconcile experiences with boys, secrets, bullies and more. Lesli Linka Glatter directs; Gaby Hoffmann, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Cloris Leachman, Thora Birch and Christina Ricci co-star.

    Directed by:

  • Lesli Linka Glatter
  • rating:3.8 3.8 Average Rating

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    Now and Then (1995)
    A heartwarming movie about four childhood girlfriends who, in adulthood reunion, relive their experience of the life-changing summer of 1970, including a mystery death, divorce, standing up to the boys, first kiss, and the meaning of true friendship. Each explores her unique identity amidst family and friends. Beautifully directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.
    - Frances   
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